TASMANIA

I had the most perfect weekend away in Tasmania. It was just so much fun, and we did and saw so many things. We planned the trip to coincide with the Marina Abramović exhibition opening at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and MONA's Winter Festival Dark Mofo. I'd never been to the gallery before, which is rather ridiculous considering what I claim my profession to be in my last post, so it was about time that I made the trip.

We left very early Saturday morning. I think our flight was at 8am, so we were up out of bed at 5.30am which was mildly traumatising but also okay because I was so excited. With this being the third plane I'd boarded in one week, I now consider myself an old hand at packing my little purple suitcase that was a gift from my Nanna and also navigating what once was to me a confusing institution of arrivals and departures.

Melbourne airport at 7.30am

Okay the novelty of looking out the plane window has not worn off for me

Snow capped mountains coming into Hobart

Beautiful coastlines

Our plan for when we landed in Hobart was very vague, that was, we didn't have a plan - so after we'd collected our luggage from the luggage belt which has a sculpture of a seal on it, advertising some sort of adventure you can go on and see seals..? We thought it best to hire a car. Well actually hiring a car was my idea - me, the person who does not have a license to drive... I am the perpetual passenger. It's very glamorous. I just sit there in my sunglasses and comment on things I see in passing "Look at that dog!" "That lady has nice shoes" "Oh can we stop and get a chocolate bar?"

Hiring the car wasn't as expensive as we thought, and it was actually perfect as we couldn't check into our hotel until 2pm anyway, so we had somewhere to put our luggage. We drove into Hobart across that amazing bridge that I remember being much smaller (the last time I was in Hobart I was 13) (you'd think my imagining would be the opposite way around) and it was the most perfect, clear winter's day.

NEW FRIEND

From there we drove up to Mount Wellington. It's about a 20 minute drive from the CBD. I'd never been up there before but S had, only about a month ago, shooting for work. This time it was different, apparently, as there was SNOW. Legitimately the last time I saw snow was when I went on Year 8 Ski Camp, and I hated it. The time before that I would have been 8 or something and we went to Mount Baw Baw as a family. Dad insisted we have ski lessons, and I kept falling over and getting my skis tangled and I cried the whole time and it was immensely traumatic.

Anyway, so what I'm saying is that snow is beautiful as long as I'm not on skis trying in vain to have some sort of sporting experience in it. I loved it up on Mount Wellington. There was not a breath of wind, which is apparently rare. The view was, yes, *breathtaking*, literally - far above the clouds, looking out onto the bay and the city and the rest of the rocky mountain top.  The snow did take priority over the view, though, and we made snowballs and tried to get photos standing on precarious parts of snowfall and laughed as our boots sunk ankle deep.

Snowball!

Above the clouds

All that mountain air made us very hungry, so we drove back down to the city in search of some lunch. We ended up going to Battery Point and choosing to eat at a restaurant called Pollen which was a good choice. A very fancy pressed green juice and baked eggs later we called into an antique shop we'd seen on the corner. It was great but unusually I didn't buy anything... I'd already almost gone over my hand luggage allowance!

Terrifying 1930s toy in the antique shop

I loved the colours of the swan

It was finally time to check into our hotel. Now, the hotel is a very important aspect of this trip because it was the most amazing, kitsch, *closest to the Madonna Inn i'll get in Australia* hotel ever. As S had been in Tasmania for work earlier in the year, he'd driven past this place and knew it would be up my alley. We booked a room there about a month ago, and last minute a couple of days before we were due to leave for Tasmania, we rung up and upgraded to a *spa suite*. We figured it was like $40 extra each, and it would be a pretty hilarious experience. I am SO glad we upgraded, because it was just SO perfect. The name of the place is Motel Mayfair on Cavell in West Hobart... It's to die for, if, like me, the things you think are worth dying for are kitschy 1970s decor, mustard velvet curtains and creepy oil paintings of children who look like their eyes might move to watch you in the night.

First impressions... The Lobby

Video library in reception

Our front door

More pictures of inside the hotel room to come...

We got ready for the exciting evening we had planned, which was to attend the Marina Abramović opening at MONA, and then attend Blacklist which was the afterparty. To get to MONA you can take a ferry, and we had tickets booked for the 6.30pm one. Before that, we had a quick wander about the Dark Mofo events and exhibitions that were on display in Hobart including the Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey exhibition 'The Shadows Calling' and the large light that shot up higher than the tallest buildings into the night sky.

The following photos are from the Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey exhibition

The ferry was fun. We got a seat looking out at all the twinkling lights of the city and had a beer while we watched. When we arrived we walked up the grand steps of MONA and entered the gallery. As this was the first time I'd been there, it was a little hard to get my bearings in the space as it was so dark (night time!). My whole retrospective vision of the space is very abstract, disjointed and a little spooky. There were SO many people. We were pretty lucky to be able to skip the queues because we had *special lanyards*, so that did make the experience more pleasant aside from dirty looks from queue goers. Sorry. We had a couple of drinks with some friends, and then went to have a look at the MONA collection and then the Marina Abramović exhibition, which I really enjoyed.

The line for Marina...

Rest Energy

"AAA AAA" 1978

Live performances

The Chamber of Silence

Dancing outside in the freezing cold

We ate food at some point and started to flag from our 5.30am start around 10pm. We had booked our ferry back from the gallery at 11.30pm but managed to wrangle our way onto the slightly earlier 10.30pm ferry. The idea of attending the after party begun to become more and more unappealing as our eyes closed ever so slightly on the ferry back, but we wanted to make the most of our tickets, our time there, and resolved to go for one drink.

Back in Hobart we walked with our hands deep in our pockets and visible breath in the freezing cold to Budgie Smugglers Takeaway which was the venue for Blacklist the after party. Look, I'm not bragging, but our names were on the *VIP* door, which, as it turns out made us no different to anyone else as we ended up on the exact same giant dance floor. The set up was impressive. I was impressed. There was pink and purple lighting falling on a giant rotating Christmas tree shaped sculpture made up of metallic limbs and figures (I think). There were giant strings of beads hanging from the ceiling. You could walk up to the balcony and look down over all of this. It was beautiful.

We had our one drink and just observed the whole scene before calling it a night about 12am. Back at our hotel, we had a spa bath before sliding warm and relaxed into our bed which had an electric blanket. Heaven.

Sunday morning we had a bit of a sleep in. Well, at least until someone from the hotel knocked on our door saying "HOUSEKEEPING!" like it was the 1950s. I didn't know what to do so I kind just yelled through the door "Uh, could you come back later?" And then we just put the "Do not disturb" sign on the door. I've always wanted to do that. We didn't want to be disturbed while we ate you know those packets of mini cereal boxes you can buy? Well we were eating them in bed and needed our privacy.

Before we knew it it was lunch time and we were starving. Well, I was starving. All I thought about all weekend was food. Anyway we changed our "Do not disturb" sign to the "Please make up my room" sign, and headed off on foot towards the city. We stopped in the best junky souvenir shop and bought a couple of things. S bought me a Tasmania stubbie holder as I'd bought him one from Canberra. I bought a hilarious Tasmania Devil toy for my dog Soda, and a Tasmanian Devil figurine for my Mum as a joke present. We finally stumbled across somewhere to eat and get a coffee, and we shared a delicious mushroom pizza with roast vegetable salad.

Shell sculptures as the junky souvenir shop

Soda's new friend

It was then time to go to the Odeon Theatre for the Marina Abramović and David Walsh (The owner and founder of MONA) talk at 1.30pm. We lined up for 20 minutes before realising our special passes got us through the line also... but by then it was a bit late and there were only seats available on the balcony. That was okay, we could still see and hear everything, but it was hard to get a good phone shot of Marina! (I'm forever thinking about social media). The talk was great. The dynamic between David Walsh and Marina was oddly casual, they're very friendly. David Walsh asked interesting but accessible questions, and Marina was very generous in her answers. She's got a pronounced sense of humour which I wasn't actually expecting, her hair is super glossy and healthy looking (even from where I was sitting!) and her accent is dreamy.

Question time was a bit painful. Sometimes those who ask questions at those kinds of things get so carried away with wanting to sound intelligent and interesting that their question becomes performative, and more about them than the person they're asking, and they go for too long, and get too complicated, and it's just embarrassing for all involved. Marina handled some of those types of questions very well giving the asker respect and time which in my mind they potentially did not deserve. S and I had jellybeans as a snack (food!) and we wanted to ask her if she wanted one. I think she would have appreciated that question. We could have thrown it down to her from the balcony!

After the talk, we went to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Okay. So this was a funny experience. I think we are spoiled with the Melbourne Museum. The Tasmanian Museum had content that seemed very dated. But that's why I kind of liked it. S patted one of the taxidermy seals without asking and I couldn't stop laughing. Then this guy just popped up behind us and was like "Would you like to pat a PENGUIN?" and we half expected him to open up his coat and have a live penguin in there or something. Anyway he just unlocked the display cabinet and lifted out these poorly stuffed baby penguins and was like "These are the ones from Happy Feet!" like we were five years old. We patted them reluctantly and it was a very bizarre encounter. When he put them back in, he kind of just shoved them in the cabinet unceremoniously and the penguins face was like squished up against the glass and then I couldn't stop laughing again. A very odd place.

Street flowers

This cabinet was filled with loom band sculptures at the museum?

Stuffed husky dogs

After that we had a snack break (M&Ms and a Kinder Surprise) and went to a couple more of the Dark Mofo art events that were on around Hobart. We stumbled across a pop up bar kind of thing, but we were only allowed to enter the bar if we could find a spoon... which seemed annoying and gimmicky (actually it was) but soon enough someone handed us a spoon and we went in. By coincidence friends of ours came in a few minutes after us so we had a gin and tonic with them. I wasn't paying much attention to the conversation as I became obsessed with a polar fleece and beanie clad old couple in their 70s, who had just been granted entry into the spoon bar. They were really excited and curious at the concept, and sat down on two bar stools around a little table chatting back and forth with their eyes darting around at the decor. They were just having the best time ever. They ordered gin and tonics and then I almost died as I saw them *cheers* each other. They were just the best couple ever and filled me with warmth and optimism and a few other thoughts that I will detail later in this very long essay post.

S booked an early dinner for us as the fanciest restaurant in Hobart called Frank. After I talked his ear off about the old couple we headed there. It was SO lovely. The food was divine. While it was a place renowned for steak they had an exceptional vegetarian selection of which I ordered three different things from... We also had dessert, which was a rich chocolate cake with brandy ice cream. Amazing.

We had tickets to a gig after dinner. It was at the Odeon theatre again which was where the Marina talk was earlier that day. The vibe was way more chilled out than any of the Dark Mofo events we'd attended over the weekend, and I think it was appreciated. The headline act was Gareth Liddiard and to be honest I don't remember who the supports were. That gin earlier coupled with two glasses of wine over dinner and then another upon arrival at the Odeon really altered my ability to pay attention and I was just giggling with S being distracted before we thought it best to head back to the hotel. After all, we had another potential spa bath waiting there for us.

We walked back to the hotel after the gig and I loved how creepy it looked at night

We were sad that Monday morning meant home time :( Our flight back to Melbourne was at 10.30am, so we decided to dedicate what little we had of the morning to appreciating the hotel room photographically. I took pictures of every corner because I loved it so much. S took actually good photos on his actually good camera but for the moment my phone examples will have to suffice. I had the most perfect weekend.

Having a photoshoot with my souvenirs

So practical, a gold guild mirror next to the toilet

Bye bye room

Bye bye lobby

Bye bye kitty

What I loved so much about the weekend, aside from the company and the hotel and the mini cereals and all the activities we got to do, was to see Hobart, a city completely re-activated by art. David Walsh opened MONA in January 2011 and since then has totally transformed the landscape (metaphorically as well as literally) of a city where one of its main tourist attractions was Port Arthur, a former convict settlement and the site of the largest mass-murder in Australia's post-colonial history (35 people lost their lives). Tasmania used to be widely regarded as beautiful but tragic, tainted - or, beautiful but boring.

I was so pleased to see locals bustling about with purpose, businesses thriving, and even rough and ready Taxi drivers who've been at the wheel for 40 years ask what you thought of the exhibition at MONA. I think you all must know by now that I am all about accessibility in the arts, and Hobart, with the edition of MONA and Dark Mofo, has bridged the gap between pretty hard edge contemporary art and the every day person. It was a joy to see so many wide eyes - the elderly couple in the pop-up Dark Mofo bar clinking glasses, a group of teenaged boys who'd chosen to come to the Marina opening on their Saturday night, a Taxi driver who called S "cobber" excitedly retelling us what he'd seen of Dark Mofo the night before. The employee at the car hire place, at the bars and restaurants we ate and drank at... they were all so happy to see us. There was a contagious curiosity and sense of wonderment literally in the air. David Walsh has done a radically revolutionary thing with MONA and I can't believe it took me so long to experience it for myself. I had the best weekend!

A very civilised breakfast at Hobart airport before boarding

Tassie devil on his way home

Soda with his new friend